Banks extend deadline to submit bids for Jet stake to April 12

The State Bank-led consortium of lenders on Wednesday extended the deadline for submitting bids for the cash-strapped Jet Airways by two days to Friday, said SBI Capital Markets.

On April 8, SBI Capital Markets invited bids on behalf of the lenders led by SBI, which has put between 31 percent and up to 75 percent in the airline for investors.

The earlier date for submission of bids was April 10. Bids with duly filled relevant annexures of the bid documents can be submitted by 6 pm on April 12, SBI Caps said in a statement without offering any reason. It further said qualified bidder/s will be expected to submit their respective binding bid(s) by April 30.

Earlier in the day, the lenders also tweaked terms for share sale in the airline, which is now under the management control of the SBI-led consortium.

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As part of the debt resolution plan for the carrier, the lenders are now looking at restructuring the “existing facilities and infusion of fresh funds by way of loans or acquisition/subscription of up to 75 percent of equity share capital of the company”.

Also, under the new terms and conditions, bidders in a consortium that bids for acquiring stake in the airline will now have to furnish individual solvency certificates, which is a proof of an entity’s financial stability, it said.

On March 25, Jet Airways’ board had approved a resolution plan formulated by SBI-led domestic lenders, under which the lenders decided to take control of the airline and make a fund infusion of Rs 1,500 crore. But the promised amount, however, is yet to be released.

Jet has been operating only around 100 flights with 26 planes as most of the fleet is grounded due to non-payment of lessors’ rentals.

Due to cash crunch, the airline has been paying only part salaries to its over 16,000 employees which forced a section of its pilots on Tuesday sending a legal notice to the management which is currently being headed by the lenders led by State Bank.